Did I not say I was going to Cuba?! I did not know how or when, but when there is a will there is a way! Here I have been for 10 days, safe and sound. The internet here is rare slow and expensive, plus they have made it very difficult to upload anything (pics, video) to the net, so this are test only posts and will be till we leave Cuba...

The Trek across the Gulf

On March 10th (Happy Birthday Celo and Amy) we left left the Florida Keys from Bahia Honda where we had a day sail form Marathon and anchored the previous night. It had been a good sail but nothing could have prepared me for what was to come. It really is something out of this world to sail in open waters, otherwise known as the deep blue sea.

We set sail that day at about 9h30 and sailed really fast with a total avg of 5kt in 16hrs trip of 93nm. there were a pack of dolphins who swam by our side for a little while. The waves where decent but not huge, 4-7 feet every 4-8 secound, and wind was steady 10-15 knots.

Things started to go wrong when the handle of the winch to roll up the jib (front sail) fell into the Gulf Stream. We sailed a while longer and at 1h30 in the next morning realized we were only a few miles from Cube and needed to slow down. Patrick and myself wrestled the wind in order to take down the jib and stuff it into the main cabin. Soon after we found that both the engine and the generator were not working. By the time I could see the city lights of Varadero not so far away.

The Fact that we were this close to land in unknown waters without control of the boat did not sound like a good combo for me and I insisted we try to contact somebody on the VHF radio... After sometime of trying to figure out what was wrong with the engine and talking with some Cubans at the Marina Gaviota. We decided to drop anchor and sleep, it was then 4h30 and we were exhausted.

In the morning to tow service came around 11h. On our way to shore we had some time to relax and I reflected on the whole experience. When I'm on my bicycle I exercise steadily all day long and can make decisions as to where and when I go whenever I want to. Sailing on the other hand, often you have to work very hard and quick, then after you may sit and relax for a while, but always be ready to work very hard at any given moment. Because you are indeed in the hands of "Iemanja", the queen of the sea and it is not up to you most of the time.

We had a group of friendly officials waiting for our arrival at Marina Gaviota, where we stayed for 6 day to repair the damages on the sails, the engine's problem was that in Florida, the sold us diesel mixed with water... bad combo!


Varadero - La Habana

We survived another over-night sail from Varadero to Havana a few days ago. I say survived because we had some trouble, again, with the bilge (inner bottom of boat) soon after sunset, we saw there was a leak on the boat and had to manually bring buckets of water from under the washroom up to the desk and empty it into the sea.This was an other time that I had to work my hardest and fastest even if I felt sick to my stomach. Very unpleasant to be sweating through all your pores and adrenaline rushing through you veins while at the same time your head and stomach are spinning like and amusement park ride... What an experience, hopefully we will have more pleasant ones from now on...

Around 23:00 the night we managed to get a hold of the situation and sailed calmy into Marina Hemingway just after sunrise, which was gorgeous.

Yesterday I contacted Manuel, a friend of friends from Toronto, and biked to his home in Havana. It was another of these immediate affinity encounters of this journey. What a wonderful person with a great life vision. Great time in his studio, witnessed a great show of a folkloric group called "Misterio del Vodu de Haiti en Cuba"... It felt great to be alive!!

Thank Manuel for the bike tour of Habana..

gotta go run out of time...

sailing to bahia honda tomorrow


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Boot Key Harbour

This is probably the last post in the US. We will become “waterborne” (airborne) tomorrow morning, when we depart from Peter’s dock. Since the winds are not favourable for us these days, we will likely through anchor for a night or two just out side of Boot Key Harbour, in Marathon. During the past few days there has been lots of progress as we managed to get most essentials good to go, like the generator, propane stove, and VHF radio antenna amongst others.

Happy family of sailors and world-citizens
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This past Month, I have came to learn a lot about the boating life. Tonight as I was hanging out in the galley (kitchen), trying to keep up with my thoughts and emotions that were super fast, as I tried to imagine life in that boat on the deep blue sea, and the daily living with this wonderful family. I super psyched about this phase of the journey.

Pelican taking flight!


Iguana on a Boat!
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Elaborating on how amazingly grateful I am to be involved in such an opportunity. For over 2 months, I had held the belief that I was going to find I boat who would take me to Cuba and Central America, and specifically that they would be a francophone family, although I got disillusioned time again, and started to expand my possibilities. The day that I met Pat, Mê, and Paciphaée, I did not know how to react to their casual acceptance of my proposal. A month later seeing and working with them everyday has been very gratifying and we seam to be enjoying each others company.

Silhouette of Boot Key Harbour
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I hope that the next post will be from Cuba!!! Stay tuned!!!

Sahalee Sail

Another week has gone by, lots of advances and some unexpected discoveries on the big’ol Quick Silver.

The good part is that I’ve been getting more familiar with the sailing and very familiar with my new franco-family: Pat, Mê, Paci… getting to find out all the family dynamic and seeing where I can fit in to complement and stay out of the way when it is none of my business.

Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

I joined Billy and his friends for a sail with his boat "Sahalee" this past Thursday. It was quite a windy day and the sea, while not bigger then 4 feet, the waves were not far apart, which made for quite a choppy ride. Ups and downs, I started to feel very heavy and ultimately, useless. That was followed by a strong sense of upset stomach as I decided to relocate my carcass to the stern (back) of the ship as I prepared for the inevitable... As I lay there, I had time and creativity to make up and sing some lyrics to a blues melody that played in my head. I love these moments of “creativity V.S. vulnerability”.

Port side of Sahalee
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As my final moments of integrity drew to a close, I began to pollute the deep blue waters with a mixture of bile and that morning’s breakfast. In between each upward throttle of my stomach, I seamed to find the energy to shout in amusement of the situation and pure physical relief!

Me recovering...
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The rest of the ride was even better and we put up the jib (front sail) so we were moving twice as fast and soon we entered the Boot Key Harbor from where we had left several hour back. That was a good day to learn many realities of sailing, and when Melanie offers me some tricks to prevent sea-sickness I will gladly accept such a gracious offer. Thanks in advance Mê.]

So it is looking like there is a window opening up Tuesday or Wednesday. If all goes well, we will set sail at that time. However during this month I have been disillusioned several times, as I was always thinking that we would leave and every time ended up staying longer. Above everything, the last 3 months, especially February, has been a great lesson of PATIENCE. Every few days it surprised me again, to find out that I had been deceived once again. I saw this as a learning opportunity and concluded that patience is indeed a virtue.

Enjoy the photos and videos on my flickr page (click here)

Blessings to all…

USA Reflections:

Saturday was the official day we were to depart from Marathon and set sail to Cuba, but once again, the weather has shown us otherwise and it seems we still have business to do here. So I decided to write some reflections of my experience in the United States of America. I realise that I won’t be able to please everyone, everything I write is from my personal experience and networking with friends. This is not an attempt to define, judge, or discriminate anyone in any way.

This is where I was born and grew up - Farm Satori, Brasilia, Brazil

I spent my childhood in Brazil then moved to Toronto, Canada as a young teen. I never visited the US before; so most of my knowledge and opinions were based on the distress and mass destruction that the US has inflicted on all corners of the globe. I developed a bias to avoid any transaction with the States, whenever possible.

As I started to formulate the idea of this odyssey (Infinity Cycle), I became aware that the US was not only geographically essential but I also needed to get rid of preconceived ideas and find out for myself, through its people, and first hand experience. It also tied in nicely with the intention to experience both extremes and unite South, Central and North Americas together as one.

Sunrise in the state of Delaware, late October 2008

As I cycled through the states of the east coast (NY, NJ, DE, MA,VA, NC, SC, GA and FL) I intentionally let go of pretensions and negative thoughts that came up, trying to absorb it all for what it is. I found most of the people I met to be very welcoming and generous in lending me a hand by offering camp/shelter, shower, food and/or most importantly their friendship. In between a number of set destinations to friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends houses and so on, I had wonderfully unexpected experiences meeting new friends, who would in turn give me more contacts of their friends in places further along the road.

A deer near the Hudson river, Stoney Point, NY

I feel it is also important to talk about my impression of the “American way of life”. How in this country, almost everything is disposable. Many of the places I went through I found its people to be disconnected from each other and their environment. Small cities have lost their sense of community and are dependant on oil and technology to survive. Only a handful of villages had a little character of their own and most had multi-national chain shopping centres as their only source of food and other living essentials, putting most small/family operations out of business. It made me very upset to find that the ONLY place I could buy camp fuel was in Wal-Mart, one of the multi-nationals I boycott. I tried to buy my daily food from local farmer’s road stands and small grocery stores whenever possible, but sometimes had no option but a big chain store.

My bike in the morning before hitting the road - Tifton, GA

I was told by friends that in school children are taught that the USA is the BEST country in the world (wealth, health, power, etc). Strategically, to some degree it promotes patriotism, which can be a good thing when it is combined with common sense. But the frustrating part is that most of the population doesn’t even have the curiosity to find out for them selves, and instead choose to live arrogantly ignorant without ever leaving their home country.

Flying on an Ultra-Light in up-state New York

I felt privileged to be present at such a glorious moment when the people of the USA elected their first African-American president, Barack Obama. This marks a great milestone in history and gives hope to the rest of the world for a future with peace. I hope he can pull the integrity of this country back together to make peace not war, environmental responsibility with recycling/composting programs, better education, free health care, strengthen communities, teach the public about the importance of holding ourselves accountable for our actions.

Finally I am glad I had the opportunity to see and experience for myself the reality of the American life. This way I will be sure to remember the contrast with other nations of the south, where resources are not such a privilege and material goods are not wasted in vast quantities. Thank you to everyone I came in contact with during my stay in the USA.

Peace and respect,

Lalo

After having written this text, I came across a documentary movie that I highly recommend.

Zeitgeist Movement - please take some time to watch it...